Hitchhiking

BEAT

Saw something on MSN about this and I remembered the good old days when this was a normal way of getting around for some people.

I remember being with 3 different family members at different times in my life picking up hitchhikers, while dangerous, you could tell the people really needed the ride...some broke down on the side of the road, some just walking cause they had no money...

So have you ever hitch hiked, or thumbed it?
would you, and have you ever picked someone up?

In todays world it is way too dangerous I know...its a shame really, the world has become too dangerous to lend a helping hand

byte

I have both hitched and picked up hitchers.

When I used to hitch I was generally only picked up by people that knew me, and now that I drive, I tend to only pick up people I know! :dunno:

chrismon

iv done it once or twice,but always ended up bein some1 i knew picking me up. i wudnt pick some one up in my car. its way to dodgy!

echomadman

Hitching used to be my primary mode of transport, been hitching sice i was a kid, with uncles/aunts/mother till i was about 12, then on my own after that.
I watched the celtic tiger and the increasing rates of car ownership totally kill off hitching as a feasable mode of transport.
The claim/compo culture we spawned helped kill it off too.

I hitched home from school most days , hitched to town on weekends, hitched to dublin a few times, hitched up/down the west coast.
I hitched to and from college for 2 years.

Nowadays i pick up any hitchhikers i see hitching in sane places, i.e. not the retards that stand driectly after a roundabout or junction.
Altho now that i've moved over to a motorbike i wont be in a position to do it anymore.

I remember the seething rage you build up after standing in the rain for two hours watching big mercs and bmws with a solitary occupant blast past you, not stopping because you'll wet their upholstery

I remember getting lifts with nuns/truckers/drunk scumbags on their way to rob houses in ballybunion/german surfers/

great days tbh as long as you weren't in any particular hurry

mike65

Its gone right out of fashion, we've all got wheels so now its only hairy backpackers who bother. To be fair the bus services have improved quite abit if going from town to town, in real terms prices are dirt cheap compared to 20 years ago, when getting from say Waterford to Cork required presicion planning weeks in advance.

I dont think danger real or imagined is a factor myself. There are just fewer ppl to pick up.

Mike.

BuffyBot

So have you ever hitch hiked, or thumbed it?

Used to do it all the time when I was a teenager!

pickarooney

Hitchike across (parts of) Europe from time to time. Easy enough if you plan where you're going and stick to the motorways/service stations. And travel as a couple. Much more interesting way of travelling than by train/bus, and often quicker.

endanagle

used to be a great way of getting home in the mornings after a night drinkin!! esp when it seemed to be a great idea to have an impromptu party in the arsehole of nowhere!!

i miss it tbh.. sure beats relying on the likes of bus eireann!

fragile

Used to hitch out of Galway every evening about 10 years ago, you would have to join the end of the queue of anywhere between 5 and 15 people, but I almost always got a lift within an hour.
I hardly ever see anybody hitching on the main out of Galway these days, and even rarer do I see somebody getting a lift.

I have met some really interesting/nice/wierd people over the years hitching. I dont think I would do it these days, but when I was a teenager, I had no problem jumping in the back of a van with a bunch of wasted hippies, and sharing in whatever homebrew and gear they happened to be offering me to drink/smoke. Damn that Celtic feline, hitching used to be the only way to fly :cool:

Lainey

most people from my area thumbed into the local town.. that was in the dark ages though

Sleepy

It's one of those great traditions of the "On The Road" era that we've all become groomed to consider as dangerous due to literature and the media targeting it as a dangerous activity. People are no more dangerous now than they were in the forties or fifties (possibly even less dangerous), we just hear more about it now than we did then.

whosurpaddy

I remember the seething rage you build up after standing in the rain for two hours watching big mercs and bmws with a solitary occupant blast past you, not stopping because you'll wet their upholstery[/B]

why would you be angry with people for not picking you up? they dont have to if they dont want to?

por

Like many other posters I used to hitch everywhere 10 to 14 years ago, into town on Saturdays, out of town Saturday night, up and down to Galway, Dublin , anywhere.

On the Headford Rd in Galway there was always 10 -15 hitchers at any one time on a Friday.

The day they opened the Maynooth - Kilcock motorway was the last time I hitched, Maynooth was the best place to head west out of Dublin but the M4 put an end to it.

WizZard

why would you be angry with people for not picking you up? they dont have to if they dont want to?

Its not the fact that they don't pick you up. You don't even exist - its as if they go out of their way to ignore you. As if you don't belong in their world.

I have hitched loads during college, all over the place. I remember once getting picked up hitching by a Russian truck driver and trying to talk with his broken English - great craic - and I did learn some russian phrases!
I blame the compo culture more than anything for the demise of hitchhiking.

Civilian_Target

Yeah, I've hitched once, and was appreciative. I'd give anyone smaller than me a lift (and I'm pretty big), but I don't have a car or anything.

Borzoi

So rarely see hitchers these days, but I'd stop for most particurlay when I'm dow Wicklow as public transport is ****e for trying to get across the county in a non-Dublin-Rosslare way.

nlgbbbblth

I used hitch for years - never a problem

last time I hitched was about 3 months ago - on the quays in Dublin - wanted a lift to Heuston Station.

traffic closed due to fatal accident with pedestrian so I walked for a bit and hitched further down - no joy

could never understand

the hitch-hiking theory

i.e.
- don't hitch-hike - it's dangerous
- don't pick up any hitch-hikers - it's dangerous

surely both can't be right?

Kalina

I hitched a lift home just the once, from Carlow up to Tullamore. I was confident cos I was with male friend, and we were picked up by a really sound guy in a merc. Couldn't have been luckier as he left us right at my friends front gate!!
Ordinarily I wouldn't hitch-hike, and never on my own.

alleepally

Used to hitch all the time from College years ago. It was always mostly truckers that would stop.

Between my town and a village a couple of miles away there's always someone hitching and even if I don't know them I'd give a lift anyway.

ToxicPaddy

i hitched for years from college home and from home into town.. about 5-6 miles..
did it for years and never had a problem..

one day while hitching, i saw this guy pushing his car with one of his mates, they
said they had run out of petrol and when they came up to me, asked me if I would
help them, then they would give me a lift... i kindly declined as the next petrol
station was about 2 miles away and mostly uphill... :rolleyes:

Got a lift about 5 mins later and saw the car parked and one of the guys hitching
with a container to get petrol..

Tox

K!LL!@N

I can't ever remember hitching, myself.
But i remember my parents giving people lifts mostly people that looked like they really needed it or backpackers.
And i think if i had a car i'd give people lifts too, if they didn't look incredibly dodgy.
Obviously picking people up is a judgement call.
So i wouldn't get mad at people for not stopping or anything.

But the reason i'm posting is about a really surprising experience i had.
It was new year's day just past and i was due in work for about 9 or so.
I was standing at the bus stop, as there were supposed to be some buses or so i thought.
So i'm just standing there, cars driving past.
This one car drives past and then stops a good bit down the road.
Starts reversing back up the road, i thought they were backing into a driveway cos they were a good bit away.
But it didn't stop until it had reversed all the way back to me at the bus stop.
This nigerian girl, who was working as a nurse, wound down the window and told me that there weren't going to be any buses for ages and did i need a lift.
She was going into town, so she gave me a lift in.
Probably one of the kindest things a complete stranger has ever done for me.
Put me in a great mood for the rest of the day.
I was so amazed that someone would actually stop like that.

Killian

jabberwock

i've hitched to college and work before..
for college it was from tuam to galway ~22miles and then later to castlebar ~40miles.
hitched to work in galway aswell for a while when ever i missed the bus!
and then on time.. going out with a girl from gort, a bit longer of a hitch(~65miles) but there was a time when you'd get lifts no problem.

strangely enough the last couple of times i got lifts they were from people who you wouldn't expect, eg single females or a van driver (although he was looking for direction in the town i was going to:) )

Exit

I'm genuinely surprised by the amount of people here who have hitchhiked or picked up people, especially people who have done it regularly (to and from college, etc.)

I've never hitchhiked myself, and I don't think I ever would (but that's because I'm a bit stubborn and don't mind walking long distances)

As for picking people up, the only place I've ever seen hitchhikers was whilst driving through Canada with the girlfriend who wouldn't pick anyone up. When I get around to driving I don't think I'll pick anyone up either. There's partly the danger issue which wouldn't be that big a factor for me, but the main issue would be that I'm not a chatty person and I hate when people invade my privacy (eg visitors coming to the house) so driving with a stranger for hours wouldn't be something I'd enjoy.

But fair play to the people who do pick others up!

mike65

Yesterday for the first time in years I picked up someone, she was going into Carrick-on-Suir which was 5 miles away so "why not " I thought....then we saw her brother and she got out and I was about to leave when he asked to be taken into Carrick as well. Then they...




















.....no I was'nt murdered by a pair of insestuous hillbillies!

Mike

echomadman

why would you be angry with people for not picking you up? they dont have to if they dont want to?

Clearly you've never walked 10 miles in the rain because some cunts wont give you a lift

zag

i drive from roscrea to tipp town every day to work. On my journey, I pass by a town called Ballycahill. There is an old lady that hitches from there to a place called Drombane to the post office every wed, thurs, fri. On my first few journies, I wouldn't pick her up, I guess I could hear me mudders voice in the back of my head, this granny could be dangerous hehe.

After about six times, I picked her up. Man, she's old. Id say about 90 or more. Apart from the stench of old people, that permeates the apolstery in the car, I like picking her up. She's deaf as coot, and smelly, but always appreciative when I give her a lift